Tuesday was the Maya Dodson show. And the Sam Brunelle show.
Thursday was the Maddy Westbeld show. And the Olivia Miles show.
Just two games into the 2021-22 women's basketball season, Notre Dame is proving it has firepower from a plethora of different positions. The Fighting Irish improved to 2-0 with a 76-50 victory over Western Illinois two nights after a season-opening 36-point rout of Ohio.
“These two really keep us going,” head coach Niele Ivey said seated between Westbeld and Miles. “I’m very encouraged by getting so many people opportunities to play and getting so many contributions from the entire team. This is going to be a group that will continue to grow and learn each night.”
Westbeld, a sophomore forward, scored 15 points and set the Purcell Pavilion rebounding record with 18. Miles, a freshman point guard, scored a team-high 16 points and had 11 rebounds and six assists.
Thirteen of Westbeld's rebounds came in the first half. She said the team was having trouble shooting, so she tried to offset those woes as much as she could by being a force on the glass. She was right about the shooting, too. Notre Dame shot 33.3 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes.
The Irish turned it around and shot 59.4 percent in the second half. Ivey said her team came out flat in the first half on a quick two-day turnaround. She implored her players to play with fervor and pace in the second half, and they did. They outscored Western Illinois 22-10 in the third quarter. Notre Dame outscored Ohio and Western Illinois by a combined 56-23 in the third quarter.
“I’m encouraged as a coach we can come in and stress different points of emphasis and they turn around in the second half and bring it,” Ivey said. “For me, it’s encouraging that we can come in together, discuss what we need to discuss, and then come back a better team in the second half.”
It wasn't just Dodson and Brunelle in game one and Westbeld and Miles in game two. Notre Dame got key performances from other players in both games. Westbeld, freshman Sonia Citron and senior Dara Mabrey all scored in double figures in the opener.
Dodson scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds against Western Illinois. Mabrey scored nine. Notre Dame won by a wider margin of victory despite shooting 3 of 20 from three-point range than it won by in any game last season.
Ivey was especially pleased by senior guard Abby Prohaska on Thursday. Prohaska scored seven points, all in the fourth quarter. The game was in hand, but it showed Notre Dame has players who won't let off the gas when that's the case.
“She always brings that level of toughness and does whatever I ask her to do,” Ivey said.
It'll be an all hands on deck type of day Sunday when Notre Dame plays an early ACC foe at Syracuse (1-0) at noon. Notre Dame has been impressive against two non-conference opponents. The Irish's mettle will be put to test in an early league matchup.
“Our goal is to always set the tone so I feel like we're always in a mindset to go out strong no matter what team it is,” Miles said. “But of course we can't be sloppy in the first couple minutes. We have to set the tone.”
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